Local Leaders Commemorate Emmett Till's Birthday, Preservation of Church Building Where Funeral Was Held
Source: WTTW News
Ollie Gordon described her older cousin Emmett Till as her protector growing up.
“I can remember he was like our guardian angel,” Gordon said. “He can do whatever, but nobody on the street better do anything because they were going to have to answer to him.”
Gordon was 7 years old when Till was murdered. She was living in a house with Till and his mother at the time Till was abducted. For all the talk about his death, Gordon said she wants people to remember that Till was also a fun, loving, regular teenager.
“Emmett had a life before death,” Gordon said. “He had happy times. He had dreams and he had aspirations.”
Community members and leaders, elected officials, and preservation and national monument partners gathered Friday to commemorate the life and celebrate the birthday of Till, a Black teenager from Chicago whose lynching in Mississippi — 70 years ago — became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.
Till would’ve been 84 years old Friday.
Community members gathered at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, the location of Till’s funeral, which was designated as a national monument in 2023 by former President Joe Biden.
Roberts Temple Church is close to finishing the first phase of its preservation efforts, which includes the restoration of the building’s exterior. Marvel Parker, who is leading preservation efforts at the church, said the goal is to restore the church to how it looked in 1955.
“This place is gonna look beautiful. It’s going to look like it did in 1955, and even better,” Parker said. “We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re gonna get there.”
U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Illinois) said he was also 14 years old, and living in Arkansas, when he found out about Till’s murder. “I must confess that it scared us to death because my grandfather lived in Mississippi, and we would go to visit him every summer,” Davis said.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) originally introduced the bipartisan legislation to federally recognize and protect Roberts Temple Church. With the designation, Duckworth said, generations of Americans will be able to learn about the church and role Chicago had in launching the Civil Rights Movement.
“National monuments are important, not just about preservation, but about teaching us the lessons, keeping those lessons alive,” Duckworth said. “This phase of progress is so wonderful to see because the last time I was here, the ceiling was falling, and even more so.”
Duckworth said her next goal is to also get Mamie Till-Mobley’s home designated as a national monument in order to help with restoration efforts.
Till was 14 years old when he was abducted, tortured and killed in 1955 after being accused of whistling at and making sexual advances toward a White woman in Mississippi.
Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open casket funeral to show his mutilated body. Thousands of mourners attended the visitation and funeral. Till-Mobley’s insistence of an open casket, in addition to Jet magazine’s decision to publish photos of Till’s body, were contributors in propelling the Civil Rights Movement. Till-Mobley died in 2003.
The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument includes sites in Illinois and Mississippi. Along with the Roberts Temple Church in Chicago, the other sites include Graball Landing in Mississippi, where Till’s body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Till’s White killers were tried and acquitted by an all-White jury.
The next steps for Roberts Temple Church’s preservation efforts include the installation of a new marquee sign replicated after an original sign formerly located on the church’s exterior; the restoration of a sanctuary space; and accessibility enhancements, according to Jeff Burandt, project executive of Berglund Construction.
Project leaders are continuing to raise funds to complete the full restoration.
By: Eunice Alpasan
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